If this lack of speed in the onboard OS bothers you, it’s an easy fix. Google, Roku, Amazon, and Apple all make excellent outboard streaming devices, and all of them worked great with this TV when I tested them in combination.

The new Q6 features a quantum-dot-enabled 4K panel with a direct LED backlighting system that gets pretty darn bright and offers solid black levels. This isn’t the panel I’d go for if I always turned off the lights to watch TV. You can upgrade to higher-end models like the QM8, or other brands like the Hisense U8H (review on the way soon) for mini-LED backlighting and better black levels, but the quantum dot panel does excellently with color.

The lack of a 120-Hz refresh rate (you’ll have to upgrade to the TCL Q7 ($650) for this feature) won’t bother anyone who doesn’t regularly play video games or watch speedy sports. I played my Nintendo Switch and PC through the TV just fine, but don’t expect the buttery-smoothness you’ll get at 120-Hz from a Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X at maximum output.

One place you’ll definitely want to spend more money is on sound. As usual, the speakers onboard this TCL sound like utter trash. Lucky for us, the TV has HDMI eARC, which means it easily communicates with our favorite soundbars.

For the vast majority of content, this TV is both affordable and excellent-looking. Two years ago, a TV that looked this good would easily have cost twice the price, and it would have been worth it. We’re in a golden age of affordable screens. If I were shopping for an upgrade to a decade-old model, this thing would wipe the floor with it and not put a huge dent in my pocketbook. Especially if I were looking for a larger size—these can be had up to a wall-swallowing 85 inches.

Those who demand higher-end performance like perfect black levels, speedier loading times, or utterly invisible bezels might want to splash out more cash for a higher-end model. But for those of us who just want to binge-watch It’s Always Sunny until the writers’ strike is over, this model will absolutely do the job.